The Demons of faith
by dragonsfly
Summary: After a assasination attempt, the young fox demon Naruto flees the demon world. He lands in the world of the humans under the tutalge of a pervert only to learn that not everything is as it seems. He just needs to have faith, right? AU.
1. Chapter 1

Prolog

The small blond boy tugged on his fathers sleeve

"Father can you tell a good night story to me before I go to sleep?"

"Okay, but after the story you must sleep, deal?"

The boy nodded and rushed to his bed waiting for his father. The older man sat down on a stool beside the bed and began:

"A long time ago the world was peaceful. With its green forests, clean air and flowing rivers and wide blue lakes. Creatures of the air, ground, water and fire were one with natures energy as a collective of individuals. But a few creatures began to question themselves. They wanted to know what it was like to act individually. They wanted freedom. They left the community and spread over the world. These were the first humans. Soon the other creatures felt lonely and wanted to leave the collective too. They were the first demons and spirits. The demons didn't like the choice made by the humans, they felt betrayed and left alone. They longed for the peaceful times and for this they hated the humans for abandoning them. The spirits accepted the choice made by the humans and choose to hide in the elements and live in peace among themselves. Natures energy decided to flow freely for all its children. Only those who were at peace could feel it.

For a long time they all lived in this new arrangement so nobody saw it coming. A brutal war broke loose. Demons against humans. The war was bitter and long and caused a lot of casualties on both sides. The great loses wanted to be revenged. It is said that in the end the demons lost due to the human strength of heart and retreated into the forests. A contract was made. The demons shouldn't leave the forest in the sake of peace. And the humans should respect the forest and shouldn't pry through them.

Both held their promises, but the humans, who didn't live very long, soon forgot their promise and that demons existed. The new generation thought demons were products of fantasy the elders came up with to keep them out of the forests where valuable resources lay. Soon they invaded the forests inhabited by demons and risked a new war…But the demons saw that times have changed. They didn't want to live in hate and revenge anymore that ate at their souls for a long time and sought the responsible humans out to talk to them. They understood the peaceful meaning of the demons and signed a secret contract to live in peace with each other. And so it came that they lived in peace again and weren't that far away to become one with nature again."

"Dad? Do you believe that one day we will live in peace too?"

"Yes son. That's what I'm fighting for."


	2. Chapter 2: Nightmares & Memories

1. Nightmares & Memories

Run. Run. Run.

_**I have to run. They are going to kill me**__. _

He ran at full speed on all fours. He was covered with dirt and blood.

He has been running for almost half a day. He was beginning to tire, his muscles were burning.

Flashes of pictures of a blood splattered room filled his mind. Tears are building up in the corners of his eyes. Shaking his head, he blinks them away. He has no time for tears. He has to get away. To safety.

_**But who can I trust? Father trusted them, and they killed him.**_

_**I can do this on my own**__**. I have to**__._

He ran though the trees. The forest was his speciality.

He could feel their presence behind him, closing in.

Stopping to think of a safe place he could go, he stood up on his legs. They were shaking.

Suddenly he felt a pair of hands pull him behind a giant tree. He struggled against strong arms. The fear of being caught froze his mind.

"Shhh. Be quite. I'm trying to help you.", a voice whispered in his ear. He stopped struggling and gave a short nod that he understood. He couldn't do much anyway.

_**I don't trust you, but for the time being I don't have a choice**__._

He felt the presence of his pursuers come closer and then they past by. They didn't notice them. He and his rescuer sighed in relief as they saw the last of the dark figures leave. For the first time he turned to his rescuer. Now he was sure he didn't know the man.

The man was tall and clad in a beige travelling cloak that went down to his sandal clad feet. He had long white hair that stood up in couple of places bound together in a long ponytail. His hands were covered in leather gloves. He had tan skin and dark eyes. Tattooed red lines ran down his face like tear marks.

"Who are you? And why should I trust you?", he asked pushing himself away from the stranger with the bit of strength he had left.

"Well, I know who you are, Naruto. I 've known you since your birth. My name is Jiraiya. I'm a friend of your father.

Naruto's face was surprised at first that the stranger knew his name, than it saddened quickly. Jiraiya noticed this.

"Come on kid. We can talk somewhere else. I don't know if we can shake them off again."

He didn't take him by the hand. He just turned and walked the opposite direction towards the town.

Shocked to where they were supposed to be going he stood where he was.

"We are not allowed out there!", he said.

"I know. And that's why they won't search for us in this direction. Or do you want to be found?"

Shaking his head he moved in Jiraiya 's direction.

_**I still don't trust you**__._

* * *

"So here we are!", Jiraiya claimed loudly opening the door. Naruto strolling in behind him. Looking around curiously he noticed that the large apartment was painted white with red borders running along the wall at half of the walls height. Pictures of half clad women were smiling down on him.

_**Great! He is a **__**pervert**__._

Jiraiya led him to the kitchen. Just then Naruto recognized he hasn't eaten a thing since he fled from home. And that has been a whole day ago by now. His stomach growled.

"I'm sure you are hungry. I'll heat something up if you don't mind leftovers. And a cup of tea?"

Naruto nodded.

He waited in silence until Jiraiya had everything prepared.

A steaming cup of tea and two peaces of warmed up pizza sat in front of him. He didn't touch a thing.

"I didn't save you to poison your food, you know.", Jiraiya stated after a minute of silence.

Naruto looked up from his food and Jiraiya noticed tears in the boys eyes.

"I don't know who I can trust anymore.", Naruto said in a quite voice. His face and his blond hair were still covered with his fathers blood. Dirt and blood caked his clothes.

"Come on. Eat up. Then you can wash. I'll give you something else to wear and then we can start talking.", The white haired man said with a reassuring smile.

Naruto took a peace of what Jiraiya called 'pizza' and bit into it. It was delicious. He smiled for the first time since the murder attempt on his father and him.

After he ate he washed himself in Jiraiya 's bathroom. Using a bathroom for the first time in life he was surprised on how water just flowed out of the pipes, seemingly at will. Later he should ask Jiraiya how it works. It was a better way of washing up than doing it in a cold stream or a waterfall. He could get used to it. But he already missed the familiar smell of the forest and the sound of the leaves and other animals and smaller demons. He could only smell the scent of the cultivated plants inside the house. _**Pour beings**_.

He put on the strange clothes Jiraiya laid out for him. The pants were a pale blue colour made out a fabric he didn't know. The black shirt was made out of a similar fabric but much finer. He would ask about it, too. He totally ignored the socks and shoes.

_**What the hell were those things anyway?**_

* * *

Jiraiya was in the living- room sitting on the coach.

"First of all: Who are you? And how do you know me and my father? And how do you know about the ancient world of demons?", Naruto asked as he sat down.

"Well aren't you straight forward?" Jiraiya sighed. "I'm Jiraiya. The legendary toad summoner. One of the legendary three. I'm what you would call a link between the words. A half demon you can say. Your father saved my life, and I trained him."

"You trained father?", Naruto asked in disbelieve. "You don't seem to be strong."

"Your father was always way stronger than me. I just taught him how to use that strength. Now tell me what did these men, or what ever they were, want from you. Why were you being followed? Start at the beginning".

Naruto felt the man was still hiding something from him, but nothing severe. Shifting on his seat he thought back.

"The beginning? Let's see…I was training outside, when I heard a loud argument going on in side of the house. I ran inside to see what was going on. I knew father had invited the demon council to talk about the new polices and restrictions he was planning to go through with." He paused and looked up at the man. He didn't flinch at the mention of demons. Naruto figured he must have told the truth about knowing all about the demon realm. He continued:

"Father always told me I shouldn't eavesdrop on council meetings, but I never listened to him. Father never got loud towards the council before and I was curious. I heard a loud crack from the inside and the council members rushed out of the room.

One dark haired one noticed me, but didn't say anything. I ran inside. Father was so angry. I've never seen him like that before. He was glowing red with anger.". Naruto paused again to look at the white haired man sitting across from him. He didn't know if he had to explain what exactly his father looked like. The man was listening closely, his face stern.

"I just stood there until he calmed down. I asked him what happened. He just said I shouldn't worry about it. Later that night they came back. And…and…"Naruto looked down. He couldn't say it. It would come true if he did. He felt tears building up.

Jiraiya noticed the sudden uncomfortable silence. He saw tears running down the boy's face.

_**What did the boy**__** have to go through? Demon or not, he is still a child**__._

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.", he said to the broken boy in front of him.

"No. I have to tell. It's just…", Naruto said between sobs and sniffling.

_- "Naruto, my son, we are going to have a hard time soon. The council members do not appreciate my way of thinking. We have to be strong.__ Always remember humans and demons can live together. Your mother proved that to me long ago." He paused. Naruto looked up to see his father starring at a blank space. "Come on lets train so we can protect what is precious to us." Ruffling Naruto's hair he stood up and walked past him toward the training ground outside. Naruto wanted to follow but just as his father just stepped outside he froze in his tracks. Naruto saw a shadow standing in front of his father. Naruto watched in horror as a red stain grew on the back of his fathers white cloak. A sword was sticking out several inches. The figure pushed his father back into the house almost running over him. The figure held his father by the shoulders and slowly pulled the sword of his chest. With a sudden twist the dark clad figure sliced sideward through his fathers chest splattering blood everywhere. Naruto felt the urge to scream as he felt warm blood flowing down his face. He was frozen. He didn't scream. He couldn't do anything at all. He watched as his father fell face fist to the floor without the support of the figure. The man turned directing his cold red eyes at him. "Naruto! Run!" His father yelled spitting blood while struggling to get up. The figure turned again and kicked his father hard so that he was now lying on his back._

"_You are going to start a war, you fool.", __Naruto heard his father say breathing heavy. _

"_No one is going to listen to your silly reasoning ever again Minato! I'm making sure of that!"__, the man said with malice in his voice as he held his sword up with both hands slamming them down into Minato's chest._

_When the man turned around Naruto__ was gone.-_

"Jiraiya, they killed him. They killed him and I couldn't do anything!"

_**I Just ran away**__._

* * *

Naruto woke up with a shock. He was sweating. The blankets were sticking to his skin. He looked around. He was in his room in Jiraiya' s house. His thoughts were scattered.

_**It was just a dream**_

A very vivid one. He could even recall his thoughts he had that day. He basically relived the worst day in his life, the day he lost everything. His father, his home, his hope. It still hurt. He could still remember the blood covered ground and the warm blood trickling down his face. He could see his father's dead eyes. He never knew his mother. All he ever had, all his memories he had as a child evolved around his father. His dream to become just as strong as him and to lead the demon council, to finally make peace with the humans. He lost everything on that day fleeing into the human world.

He gained something that day, too but he didn't realize that for a long time. He gained trust. Jiraiya trusted him, even though he was a demon child. That was what his father wanted. Humans and demons side by side. He opened up his pained heart to the old pervert and wasn't turned down. In time he had the courage to hope again.

With the years they shared a father son relationship. He was ten years old back then. Even for a demon he was young, for demons live three times longer than humans and don't age as fast. They age normally until they are about twenty then the ageing process slows down. Because of his half demon heritage Jiraiya didn't seem to age anymore either. Jiraiya was the one who taught him the differences between humans and demons. Naruto was very amused by the pictures Jiraiya showed him about how the humans saw demons as vicious creatures and not at all civilized. The other way around he had to admit that humans weren't what he saw in the books and scrolls in the demons world either. Not all humans were war enjoying creatures that always took everything away from what he once called home. They needed the wood to build their homes and to make fire and they needed the land to grow plants and build houses on. He pitied them because they didn't know how to use natures resources to it's full extent.

Jiraiya taught him many things as of how to move in the human world, to read and write, geography, politics, human ethics, and how to act human. As a fox demon he was more animalistic and had to stop walking on all fours when he was outside. And he definitely should not sniff on somebody. In the first few months he couldn't imagine how one can live in this world without going crazy. But the old man did it, so he could do it too. He had to learn it,the fact that demons exist wasn't known to all humans and nobody wanted a panic to rise.

It was a very rocky road but he managed to adjust and got to know the world.

The world he now called home for over six years now.

He calmed down. Pulling the blankets off of him he shoved his feet over the edge of the bed. He stood up raking his hands through his hair. He looked out of the window. The sun wasn't up yet so he washed up and put his clothes on quietly. He could still hear the old man snoring. He went into the kitchen and made himself breakfast.

He was startled when he heard a voice behind him.

"What are you doing up so early?" Jiraiya was standing in the doorway rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Thinking…I can't sleep…I'm going out.", Naruto answered in between bites and sips of orange juice.

"Having bad dreams again, eh? Oh well. Think about school today. I don't want an other letter of your director saying you are skipping lessons again. And say hi to Sasuke for me okay?"

Surprised Naruto watched as Jiraiya went back to bed.

_**Jiraiya is more protective of me than I thought. And I think he is watch**__**ing me…**_

After his short breakfast he stepped outside and jogged to their meeting place.

* * *

It was a foggy morning.

The sun was fighting to come out and burn the fog away. The streetlights were still on as Naruto sat down. The bench was their meeting place. Sasuke always wanted to train before they had to go to school. Sasuke was a bit paranoid, but after what happened to him it was only normal. He was constantly training. He didn't want to 'slack off' and be weak when the time came he was needed. Naruto knew that he didn't want to let history repeat itself, so he trained with the shape shifting demon and he too found solace in this.

Naruto found Sasuke one year after his flight out of the demon world. Naruto was walking through the city doing his behaviour homework when he felt something strange. It was somewhat familiar and was coming out of an alley. There, hiding behind a trashcan, was a small black haired boy with red eyes. The boy just stared in front of him not even noticing anything. The boy had his arms rapped around his legs, tears streamed his face and he was rocking back and forth mumbling something.

"I…I don't…I…brother please don't…."

Later, after Naruto had brought the boy to Jiraiya' s apartment, Naruto learned the truth of Sasuke's state.

It was Jiraiya who told him. His contact people and spies had already informed him. Sasuke was a demon like himself. That explained why he was able to feel him, or at least his aura. Different than most demons the Uchiha formed a clan. The most of them were shape shifters. They were very secretive and mostly wanted to be left alone. After Naruto's father had been assassinated the demon council fought over who should be the new head of council. After a year the Uchiha clan claimed their right to lead. Being a powerful clan nobody dared to oppose them. But in the night of celebration they all got killed. It was a massacre. The entire clan got wiped out, except for Sasuke. The boy ran away from the terrible scene and managed to survive and had arrived safely in the human world, how he managed to do it he didn't know.

At first Sasuke didn't talk. He was in shock. The first time he talked he was in town with Naruto buying stuff for dinner. He had to wear sunglasses to not show his blood red eyes. He didn't know how to shape shift properly, yet.

He saw two boys standing in front of a candy shop, obviously brothers. One was taller and older then the other. The younger brother wanted to go in side.

"Little brother, you are so annoying!" The older said. Sasuke stiffened. "Come on brother! It's just candy. It doesn't take that long." The younger boy pulled the older one into the shop. Sasuke watched the scene and abruptly turned the other way and said: "You can't always have want you want."

Somehow Naruto knew that Sasuke didn't mean the two in front of the candy shop when he said it. Later Sasuke informed them that he wasn't the last of his clan, his brother was still alive. He was the one who massacred the clan.

Neither Jiraiya nor Naruto knew what to say. Naruto had felt as if his stomach turned into stone.

"_His brother did __it!"._ Was all he could think.

* * *

"You're early."

Naruto, who was lost in memories staring blankly at the horizon, didn't hear his friend approach and gave a undignified yelp.

"Do you have to scare me like that?", he almost screamed in spite of the early hour. He didn't give a damn waking others up.

"You have to be on your guard more, moron."

"You don't have sneak up to me like that while I'm thinking, bastard!"

"You and thinking…that's rare."

"Oh, shut up." Naruto turned around and crossed his arms in a mock pout.

"Do you want to pout all day or are we going to train?"

Naruto stood up and slid into an opening stance. " The usual?"

Sasuke moved back to take a more defensive stance. "Hn."

Naruto took that as a yes and charged aiming for Sasuke face. His target turned in the very last moment and guided Naruto's arm forward and pushed him in the shoulder blade with his other arm sending Naruto falling to the ground, but nothing involving his friend would be that easy he figured as Naruto used the momentum to slam both hands to the ground to steady himself while trying to kick Sasuke. Seeing it coming he managed to dodge and moved from his opponent with a smile.

"You've been practicing."

"Of course I've been practicing. I want to be able to go through with my goal. Just as much as you do."

"I haven't heard that in a while. You've been really thinking."

"Bastard!" Naruto charged again. This time fainting and bringing up his other fist in a upper cut. Sasuke took the hit to his middle and huffed as the air was hit out of him. But instead of backing out he grabbed Naruto's fist and turned hard. Naruto allowed to be propelled in order to save his wrist from being snapped and landed on the other side of Sasuke. This time Sasuke was the one who landed a hit. To Naruto's face that was.

"Fuck! That hurt!"

Sasuke smirked as he saw the bruise forming on his friend's cheek.

"Thought you would dodge, idiot."

The bruise was already being taken care of by Naruto's strange healing ability.

"I think we should call it a truce today. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Hn. Okay."

"Do you remember our goal?"

"Why are you asking?", Sasuke asked carefully. Thanks to his almost photographic memory he could recall almost all of his memories, for the better or the worse. So of course he remembered, like it was yesterday.

(flashback)

He was sitting on a bench. He just moved in with his new 'foster parent' Kakashi Hatake, after living with Naruto and Jiraiya for almost a year. He needed time alone. He had started to get used to the playful manners of one Naruto Uzumaki. He would probable would never admit it out loud but he was his first and only friend. Kakashi was so totally different. He was lazy, and spaced out most of the time and made ambiguous remarks about almost everything. He was a wolf demon and was kicked out of the demon society at young age. He never said why. Sasuke assumed he wore a face mask to hide his canine teeth, the most unnerving thing about his appearance were his eyes they had to different colours. One was dark brown, almost black, the other was a grey kind of silver matching his hair.

"Hey Sasuke!"

He turned around and saw his blond friend coming towards him waving. Surprisingly enough the mostly hyperactive teen sat down and sat in silence.

"What are you planning to do now? You know…you weren't kicked out of the forest you could easily return. I'm sure they would welcome you. Shape shifters were always in one of the highest positions in the council."

Sasuke could easily read between the lines, even if he had never heard the story that brought Naruto to the human world. Naruto couldn't return and he was generally sad about it. He wondered how much of his normal happiness was a mask.

"I'm not planning on returning." If returning to the forest meant he would leave Naruto here in the human world only to be softened by others who didn't care for him as such, but for him as the sole clan member that was sane, he would pick the human world any time. Naruto looked at him shocked.

"I still have to find him. I want to know why…the reason he…", Sasuke reasoned. Naruto didn't have to put together who and what he meant.

"You know…I always wanted to go back. But I'm not sure if I want to anymore. It was always my dream of taking my fathers place…", Naruto said lowering his head.

"What's holding you back?", Sasuke asked.

"You don't know who I am. They'll never let me back. They'll kill me."

Sasuke stiffened, it was that serious then, huh?

"Are you going to tell me?"

"…I'm a fox demon, Sasuke. My family was one of the noble demon families, it is per se my birth right to rule the demons council. My dad was the fourth Fox Lord to do so. He always told me that humans and demons could live together and that he would fight for what he believes. He was…". Naruto paused. He was trying not to cry, but thick tears were running down his cheeks.

Sasuke was lost, he didn't know what to do. So he did the one thing he could. He put a arm around Naruto and said nothing. Naruto continued after awhile.

"He was killed, Sasuke. Right in front of me. I would be dead now, too if I was a slower runner. They followed me, tried to stab me with long throwing knives. I'm not a shape shifter, they will recognize me immediately. I just _can't_ go back."

"Then we will have to change the way they think."

"You don't know what you are saying.", Naruto said. He sounded defeated.

"I'm pretty sure that with a bit of help, we could do it."

Naruto sprang up out of Sasuke's hold.

"I'm _not_ going to ask you to risk your life like that for me.", he yelled. "You haven't even found your brother yet! Don't go and risk being killed before you accomplish your goal."

"OK." Sasuke said waiting for the reaction.

"Wha-? I don't know what your talking about."

"I said ok. I _won't_ get myself killed before I reach my goal. But at least I have a goal to reach! You are just to afraid to reach out for yours!" Sasuke was getting angry now. "Just what is it that you want? What is your goal Naruto?"

Naruto was shocked into silence.

He wanted to be respected by humans and demons alike. He wanted this stupid war for power to end so that he could live peacefully. He wanted to protect everyone who was close to him. He wanted to unite the demon society so they wouldn't end up killing themselves driving their very species into extinction. Yes, that was what he wanted.

Sasuke saw the thoughtful expression turn into a grin and smiled into himself.

"And…?", he asked.

"My goal is to become the next Fox Lord!"

(End flashback)

Sasuke smiled at the memory.

"I'm asking because at some point we'd have to start planning, don't you think?"


	3. Chapter 3: New Friends

AN: Thanks goes to the two who reviewed. You know who you are! =) Sorry for the long wait, my next term is starting and I have alot of work to do.

I'm just the proud owner of 25 Naruto mangas nothing else...hint, hint

2. New Friends

It was a special day. They were about to start something big, something nobody did before. But where to start? They had to admit that they would need help, a lot of it. That meant they had to find and convince others to follow their…project. Yeah, because without others it wouldn't become anything else. It was just an idea they had, a dream, a goal.

Sasuke glanced at his blond friend walking beside him. Finding other demons wasn't that hard, one just had to search for them. It was easy once you knew what to look for.

No, finding them wouldn't be a problem, the problem was to convince them to make a move on the current rulers of the demon world. He didn't know who was ruling, now that his clan has failed on so many levels, but they had to start somewhere. In that point Naruto was right. They wouldn't tell Jiraiya or Kakashi, because they wouldn't understand yet. They would have to work in the shadows for a while. How long, both of them didn't know. It could be years until they achieve their goals.

He didn't forget his search for his brother. He could never forget. He somehow knew it was always on Naruto's mind, too.

They reached the school with enough time to go to their separate classes. Today the classes would be shuffled again because it was the beginning of a new term. According to the new courses the students had to be sent to their respective classes by their head teachers, who gave them their new time tables.

Surprisingly enough Naruto had been in the advanced writing class and was one of the top students and was good in arts and learning languages. Science and maths though…it just wasn't his thing. Naruto was the dead last of each of these classes. Sasuke knew why. Naruto didn't like the way science saw living beings as an object you had to cut down into it's very structure to gain knowledge of it. Maths was an other story though, he just didn't get the meaning of it. Being rational was never meant for him anyway. He always acted on his intuition and tended to surprise everybody.

Sasuke remembered that Naruto once outright refused to cut his toad's belly open the day they were doing amphibian anatomy. Bad enough, he saw one of his classmates do it. How the scalpel slowly slit open the soft skin, blood flowing out. Naruto threw up, in the middle of the classroom. Sasuke had seen the horror on his friend's face and he remembered that his godfather was related to toad demons.

They didn't ever talk about it. In that week Naruto released toads into the teachers room and locked it from the outside. Nobody knew how Naruto got a hold of the key, but Sasuke knew as a fact that after the lesson, Naruto wasn't allowed to take part in such classes again. The teachers feared the retaliation of the now famous prankster.

Sasuke was good in every class, he aced all subjects. He was in advanced Mathematics class. He was always the more rational person. In science he detached himself mostly. He wondered if it was because he was a humanoid demon that he didn't feel that bad about cutting other beings open. He understood the anatomy of animals more and more and he knew, if he had to, he could turn into a perfect copy of them. It was his strength to gain knowledge about other beings. Kakashi once confirmed this. Naruto was a fox demon after all and more in contact with nature than he was.

"Good morning class.", the teacher greeted them. Anko, she didn't wanted to be called by her last name because she would feel old, smiled pleasantly. The whole class knew someone was going to do something they didn't like. She always had her ways of making life in class miserable in a slightly sadistic way. Sasuke noticed a girl standing in front with her. She had pale skin, pink hair and green eyes. She was wearing a red strap-top that, surprisingly, didn't clash with her hair and dark pants. She had a dark blue bag hung over her shoulder and she was holding a new maths book with both hands in front of her.

"We have a new student this year, please introduce yourself.". Anko nudged her forward.

"Hello! My name is Sakura Haruno. I lived on the east coast before I moved to town over summer to live together with my mom.", the girl said.

"As my class' top student I aspect you to show her around after class, Sasuke.", Anko announced with a sweet voice.

Sasuke was not a people person, the other students knew that already and pitied the newbie. Sasuke tried not to look annoyed. He wouldn't give Anko the pleasure. Managing that, he looked rather blank and cold. Sakura gulped and sat down next to him. She gave him shy glances as class went on and they received their new schedules.

'My day is not going to get any better', he thought. Truth be told, he was right.

Naruto went to his class swiftly. He was in a good mood. The fog has cleared and revealed a cloudless sky. The PE class would probably be outside today and he loved it already. He knew he was a sport freak. He knew as a fact that many thought he was not normal, and they will never know how right they were. He chuckled to himself. He had to restrain himself from using his full power all of the time. He guessed then he would be called on for being a demon for sure. He thanked Jiraiya for teaching him meditation. That way he could regulate his energy output that would grow stronger while he got older, but holding back enough when in front of humans.

He was still thinking about his training with his godfather, while he turned around the corner, when he violently bumped into someone. He fell backward and landed on his butt.

"Au!", he said looking up and rubbing his behind the same time. "Sorr…". He wanted to say sorry, he really did, but the gaze the other sent down at him left the word stuck in his throat. The look radiated hate and disdain.

'What did I do to earn that look?', he thought. He took a closer look at the other.

He was slightly taller than him and had pitch black elbow length hair. He wore grey baggy shorts and a black polo-shirt. It didn't suit his pale skin all to well. But the clearly most unnerving thing about him were his eyes. They were pale grey. It almost looked as if he was blind, but wasn't. Naruto got up and held his gaze frowning, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly the bell rang. Relieved they parted and went on to their parts of school. Still startled he walked into class, wondering what the boy's problem was or if the boy generally hated everyone. It wasn't in his nature to hate a person he hardly knew. He liked to at least to give people a chance first.

'What reason did he have to look upon me like that? With that much hate?'

He sat down in his usual seat. The farthest away from the board as possible one desk away from the window. The desk at the window was occupied by the most laziest person he knew. Said person, Shikamaru, was already sitting, or slouching, in his seat almost asleep. He had nodded to Naruto as he came into class, but he was already nodding off. The lazy boy always slept through classes and somehow always managed to ace the exams. His grades were still average though, because of his low attendance in class. Naruto once bothered to ask him why, the only answer he got was that it was 'too bothersome'.

"Good morning class! I hope your vacation was nice. Today we are going to discuss our new project 'classic literature', then I'll hand out your new schedules. But before we can start I want to introduce you to two new classmates.", Mr. Umino announced.

Next to their enthusiastic teacher were two girls. One was wearing a blue wrap around skirt and a dark grey turtle neck. She had shoulder length black hair and had pale eyes. Her face went red when the class' attention was directed at her. She tried hard not to look at class and was pushing her fingers together.

The Other had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was very thin and in comparison wasn't as well endowed as the other girl. One could mistake her as a boy. Her clothing didn't help either. She wore loose fitting jeans and a T-shirt, but was pretty non the less. Looking confident she took a step forward.

"Hello everybody! My name is Haku. My parents come from Japan, but decided to move here with me and my older brother."

The whole class stared and blinked. That voice was way to deep for a girl, there was no mistake: that girl was a boy!

Haku talked on, but everybody was too shocked to notice a thing he said.

"And just in case you haven't noticed yet: I'm a boy.", he finished smiling, knowing all too well what confusion he caused.

Naruto laughed. He had to say he made a much prettier girl than Haku.

Naruto once figured out that, he too, could change his appearance, but only his sex. He did it in the bathroom after Jiraiya told him about his special ability. He turned out to be a long legged girl with long blond hair. His bright blue eyes and his 'whisker marks' were in place, he felt normal enough. It could come in handy someday. That is what he thought before Jiraiya walked in on him standing there naked. Later, as he told Sasuke about his fiasco with his guardian, had Sasuke informed him that in Japanese Mythology it was common for fox demons to play pranks and even turn into the other sex to confuse their victims.

That moment the dark haired girl took a step forward. She was still looking at her feet and pushing her fingers together.

"Uh…Hello my name is Hinata. I was born here in town. My cousin and I changed schools so that we could take our advanced classes. Please to meet you." With that said she bowed and stepped back.

Naruto had to show them around. They were both quiet in their own way. Hinata was very shy and Haku was in a way like him but more laid back. Like the way he had been before he realized he wasn't an outcast. It had taken a lot of courage to walk around humans and to act as one of them. Back than he always remembered the stories about demon hunts and always shied away from bigger crowds. At that time he felt lonely, until he found Sasuke. Haku seemed to be confident, but he had an air of sorrow around him. Weighed down by the awkward silence he was relieved to see Sasuke in the lunch break.

His friend looked very annoyed. Soon he found out the reason. A pink haired girl was attached to his right arm, blabbering about random stuff. Standing behind them was the black haired boy he collided with. He was looking at the girls arm around Sasuke, almost as if he was willing her to let it go. His face looked as if he just realized he stepped in dog shit. As he spotted Naruto and his two followers he frowned even more. Hinata was suddenly very rigged…she seemed to know the boy…Naruto blinked. There was something he was missing.

Suddenly it made click.

'that boy was her cousin!', Naruto thought. It made sense they had similar hair and eyes.

'Just what was his problem?'

" Hey Sasuke! Over here! I have a free table!", he yelled over the small crowd.

Without paying attention to his followers he stalked towards Naruto rolling his eyes.

"…and this summer I moved to my mom's place. I even got my own room. Where do you live?", the pink haired girl asked Sasuke.

"Hello there! My name is Naruto! I'm showing Hinata and Haku around who are new here in school, please to meet you…ahm?", he interrupted the pink haired girl who looked at him confused she didn't notice where she was going and that there were other people around them now.

'Another Sasuke groupie.', Naruto thought.

"Oh my name's Sakura. I'm new, too."

"Thought so. A pretty girl like you, I would have noticed."

She looked taken back. Not used to a boy calling her pretty.

"What took you so long to get here, moron?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well, I have to show them around…"

"He did his job well until now. Who are you?", Haku asked. All but Naruto and Hinata stared at the feminine boy. It took Sasuke a couple seconds to respond. But Neji beat him to it.

"My name is Neji. I'm Hinata's cousin.", he said with an indifferent face.

"I'm Sasuke, his friend.", Sasuke said pointing to Naruto.

With all introductions said they sat down and ate lunch together. Neji still didn't say much, Hinata didn't either. The only two people who were constantly talking were Naruto and Sakura and occasionally Haku, but it was all small talk.

After lunch they went to their classes. And before they knew it the first day of school was over. Naruto met up with Sasuke to walk home with him. Only halfway home Naruto remembered that he forgot his homework in his locker.

"Hey Sasuke! I have to go back. I forgot my homework. I don't want to be on bad terms with Mr. Umino at the beginning of the new year. We'll meet later ok?"

Not waiting for an answer he ran off in direction of their school.

Naruto, a loud and open person, wasn't happy about how quiet everybody was. Tomorrow he would try poking around a bit. And something was off about Neji, he just knew it. Walking towards his locker he sighed.

"If I only knew what his problem was…"

He was going through the combination of his lock, when he felt a tingle that went through his whole body making his nerves stand on end. It felt like he was being watched. He turned around slowly trying not to be obvious about knowing, but he didn't see anybody. There were a few students still at school taking afternoon classes, but none of them were looking at him.

'I'm just being paranoid again…' He stopped that thought. Somebody was looking at him. There sitting at a table by the vent machines was none other than Neji. He looked strange sitting there, something didn't fit. He was staring at him almost like he wanted to look right through him. Naruto shivered inside, those eyes were creepy. Not trying to get in any trouble he packed his books into his bag and went for the doors, but a voice held him back.

"We need to talk."

Naruto turned around to see Neji getting up and coming towards him.

'Did he just say talk? What is with this guy?' He had no time to answer his question, because Neji was already in front of him.

"Huh?...About what?", Naruto asked. Suddenly Neji grabbed him by the arms and wheeled him towards the next wall.

"What the hell are you doing!", Naruto shouted, but nobody was there to listen.

"Be quiet and listen! I'll ask you once and you will answer me: Where is he?"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto tried to wiggle free but couldn't, Neji held an iron grip on his upper arms successfully pinning him to the wall. Naruto frowned. A mere human was holding him down. But he couldn't act on it, he was trying to blend in.

"Don't play dumb with me, you are the same kind, you can sense him I know you can…"

"…same kind? What are you getting at?" Naruto's mind was racing. Did this boy figure him out? The grip on his arms tightened, the thumbs were pushing in between his muscles. He winced.

'He shouldn't be able to hurt me like that.'

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Neji let one of his arms go and jabbed him in the kidney with two fingers. Naruto inhaled with a hiss.

"I'm not stupid.", the taller boy hissed into his ear. "I know what you are, demon."

"Are you crazy? What are you talking about?", he stammered. 'How could this human know?'

This time the other boy smirked. "I'm saying that…" Neji's eyes widened, his eyes turning completely white, veins straining around them. "…I can _see_ you are not human."

Neji gripped his throat and held him against the wall. "If it was me, I would get rid of you already, but you are not my target. Where is he?"

"I don't know what are talking about!", Naruto managed to say. The pressure on his throat increased. "You're choking me!" His vision was blackening, he couldn't move right, his demon aura wasn't responding the way it should…then he realized he could breath again, the pressure was gone. He looked up to see what was happening. Blinking in surprise he saw Haku standing there, bending Neji's hand back in a awkward angle. He said something to Neji who backed away and pushed through the doors. Smiling down at him Haku held out his hand to help Naruto up.

'When did I fall?' Still confused with the situation he rubbed his throat. Naruto grabbed Haku' s hand and stood up.

"Hey Haku thanks a lot, he got me by surprise there."

"No problem Naruto, that's what friends are for." After a short pause they decided to walk home together. Happy he made another friend he was off in direction of Jiraiya' s apartment with a whole lot more on his mind.

It was awkward meeting Sasuke the next morning. Naruto didn't want to drag his best friend into...whatever his situation was. His arms still hurt. They just wouldn't heal right. There were small bruises where the boy hit him and he couldn't channel his energy through them, despite how many times he tried. The bruises on his throat were thankfully gone. In their morning spar with Sasuke he was starting to favour his uninjured side.

"You're hurt.", Sasuke stated bluntly after connecting a blow to Naruto's injured side. They knew each other well enough to know when one of them could have blocked and when not. Naruto doubled over and held the spot where Sasuke had hit him. He was sweating heavily. He clenched his teeth together. The place where Sasuke hit him was in the same spot where Neji had hit him over the kidneys. But it shouldn't hurt so much. It was like Neji's strike increased the amount of pain caused by Sasuke's hit.

"Thanks for stating the obvious.", he pressed out and sat on the ground.

"Who did it?"

"Ah, I just ran into somebody after school, it was no big deal. Haku, the new boy, helped me out.", he answered giving a part fully truthful answer, hoping his friend would fall for it. Knowing Sasuke he would corner Neji and Naruto's gut feeling said that would go wrong. Sasuke didn't really believe him, he could tell. Now his friend was going to watch his every step.

'So far for protecting the bastard!'

He had to find out what Neji was after, or rather who he was after, fast.

Hinata sat in class waiting patiently for her target to come. This was her first mission and she was very nervous. Her cousin had done them before and was looking down at her because of that. He said she already lacked confidence and now added to that competence. He cornered her target to get information yesterday.

It was hard for her to believe that Naruto was a demon. He didn't act like one His behaviour, his speech and movements were that of a human, but her eyes didn't lie. She could see the natural energy flowing around him in a way only common to demons. He repressed it very well; well enough that humans could feel comfortable around him. No human would notice. But she wasn't entirely human either.

Just then she noticed her target coming into class, unusually early. She looked away afraid to how he would react after Neji' s outburst.

He sat down at his table behind her. Slowly afterwards the classroom stared to fill up. Halfway through the period she received a tap on the shoulder from a boy next to her as the teacher wasn't looking. He passed her a note. Carefully she unfolded the note. The handwriting was quiet messy, but readable.

'Can I talk to you after class? - N.'

Her pulse went up, she couldn't concentrate any more.

'What did Neji do? Did he think Naruto would just sit around and do nothing? Of course he was curious. '

All her patience flew out of the window with the school bell and nervousness set in. The kind that she had when she was talking to her father. She thought about leaving, but that wouldn't be polite. She was standing just outside the class. She didn't look up even as black converse shoes came into her view.

"Hey Hinata! Thanks for waiting…"

'Stay cool Hinata you can do this!'

"Of course Naruto. What did you want to talk about?", she managed to ask politely. She looked up strait into his eyes. She blushed. Demon or not, he had the most beautiful blue eyes she's ever seen and he was smiling at her, despite the pain he must have.

" Well, I really don't know how to start, but it's about your cousin. What does he want with me?"

Hinata didn't know what to answer that.

Why was he asking? Didn't he know who they were? He was a demon, right? All demons knew of her clan. The clan of half demons that denied their demon heritage. A disgrace to the demon realm, but at same time an asset to the human world. Her clan was famed for hunting demons down that were causing problems in the human world and with time her clan developed a grudge against demons of all kind. Most of her clan thought didn't belong among humans. She didn't know where to start to explain.

"…Um…", was all she could say.

" I mean, he doesn't seem to like anybody, but he _really_ doesn't like me. I thought you could help me figure out why."

" I don't know, Naruto, he isn't himself lately.", she said looking down.

Neji was acting weird, ever since his father went on a solo mission into the demon realm.

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hinata, if you need to talk to somebody feel free to come to me." She looked up into his eyes. He wasn't lying he would be there for her. She was shocked by his sincerity and kindness. His warming smile made her blush.

" Um Hinata? Can we meet after school?", he asked out of the blue.

"Sure! I'll wait up in front.", she answered quickly.

"Thanks! See you!" And he dashed off. She looked up to see the next class arriving.

'Oh, what did she sign up for?', she thought and walked to her next class.

Unnoticed by them someone turned down the other hallway, grinning.


End file.
